Take a Peek into our Day

With Bella in school, we have a routine in place now that’s nothing I have to nag everyone to try to follow (and hallelujah to that). Every weekday we have a schedule that has to happen. If you’ve read me long, you probably know how very much I like order and structure so that the spontaneous can be enjoyed when it hits. Chaos and lack of a “plan” actually depresses me after a while.

I love knowing how other people run their days and weeks. It lets me feel like I relate so much to what works and what everyone seems to struggle with. Our days aren’t perfect and they’re not 100% on a schedule, but we try to stick to the important things at a certain time because it seems to really help us all. The routine is something we’ve all very much needed for a long time.

I thought I’d share our days with all of you, as of now. So our current (flexible but within this structure) schedule is this, if we don’t have appointments or errands:

7am: wake up, diffusers on, get breakfast, everyone gets dressed. Bella is amazing about this – she makes her own breakfast and then gets dressed without us even saying anything.

11:30: Nap. I come downstairs, clean up lunch and toys, call my sister and any appointments I need to make, switch laundry/vacuum, etc, and then head upstairs for yoga and either school or some Young Living stuff. Sometimes I spend an hour trying to get Char to sleep, but thankfully that’s pretty rare.

1:30pm: Usually Sam is home by then, so I’ll run out to get Bella since Char is still (most days) napping past that.

2:00: Bella is out of school, and we head home and chat about her day as she explains she is “starving” and yet refuses to eat the rest of her lunch lol.

2:30: home and snack for the girls. I go through the backpack and set out homework.

3:00: Bella gets a quiet time in her room where she reads/plays on her tablet/plays with toys because we find when she first comes home she’s overstimulated to the max. This helps a lot.

3:45: outside to the kiddie pool if it’s not sweltering or the empty area behind our neighborhood where Bella hunts for bugs.

4:30: everyone inside. This is hands down the hardest time of the day for Sam and me. The girls are getting hungry, they’re cranky, they pick at each other and us – we’ve tried a multitude of things but finally realized it’s best to let them watch a 30 min show while Sam or I prep dinner. I’d love it if they’d play together at this time, or even just play nicely separately but right now, it’s just not a reasonable thing and I have to let that ideal go from 4:30-5.

5:00: Bella sets the table, and dinner.

5:30: clean up and if it’s bath night, Sam heads up to run the water for Char while Bella takes a shower. I clean up downstairs. Night clothes on and Bella comes down to draw while I put Char to bed.

6:30: usually Bella is done at this point unless she’s decided to slide off her chair a million times and act like her pencil is made of thorns. So she’s free for about an hour to do what she wants.

7:30: Bella and I head to her room to read. We’re finishing up A Little Princess (which I adore) and I promised her after we will watch the movie. It’s so, so much fun to get to read chapter books with her.

8:00: Sam comes up. Prayers, oils, and bed for Bella. We head downstairs to chill. Sometimes we go outside and watch the crazy thunderstorms roll in. Sometimes (tonight) we sit on our computers and enjoy the silence. And sometimes we look at each other and decide we’re fried and we just turn off everything and go to bed lol.

8:30 (9 on weekends): Bella lights out. By this time we’ve been informed several times she’s hungry/thirsty/hurts/can’t sleep/is hot/needs a ________ /or a tiny sound is bothering her.

9:30: Bed for us. If it’s Friday I fold laundry while catching up on some of my podcasts. Otherwise I’ll text my sister/listen to podcasts/watch a show once in a while or flip through Facebook and Instagram while sending Sam memes 😂.

11:00: Convince myself that I will have quiet time again tomorrow, start my diffuser (I use Nothern Lights Black Spruce, Lavender, and Cedarwood every night in it) roll on Tranquil and RutaVala oils (White Angelica if I’ve had nightmares, no idea why but it stops them) and find a cool spot on the sheets while trying to make my pillows into the perfect position (Sam calls it my nest). Char usually wakes up right after I fall asleep – no matter the time. Every night. Sam says it’s scary how she just knows. Head into her room, nurse her and put her down, back to bed. Usually that only happens once.

And we do it all over again the next day. That’s a glimpse into our world – if you’ve written out yours recently or decide to, I’d love to read, and know others would, so leave a link!

Comments

5:40: Alarms go off, hit snooze
6:00: Vince [husband] and I get up, turn on the news, shower, etc. August [5 months] is usually awake and cooing at this time
6:20: Wake up Asher [2.5 yrs], fight with him to go potty, get dressed, feed August
6:45: Leave for daycare, give daycare lady a rundown of the morning
6:55: Carpool to work, husband drops me off a block away and I walk to my office, sometimes with a stop at Starbucks in between
7:30: Arrive at work, check email, chat with coworkers, begin my day
11:30 Lunch, sometimes a floor nap
4:30: Leave to get kiddos from daycare
5:20: Arrive at daycare, chat with our daycare lady
5:30: Go home to cook or go out for dinner
6:00: Eat dinner, tell Asher he can’t get up until he’s done
7:00: Make August a bottle, Asher plays with trains or watches cartoons
7:30: August to bed
8:30: Asher to bed, tell him that I’m leaving for real this time, then give him ONE MORE KISS AND THAT IS ALL, go back and give him another kiss, etc.
8:40: Parents watch a show, read, take a bath, or otherwise unwind
9:30: Mama to bed

I wish I could tell you one certain thing! She never slept through the night (although she’s always slept that length of time even when it was interrupted) for 17 months. When I started diffusing a drop or two of Gentle Baby or Sleepyize, she switched to only waking up once or not at all (unless she’s not feeling good or something startles her of course). She really loves to sleep and I know that’s just the worst to hear when you’re exhausted 😂 because Bella was and is a sleep hater. She has fear of missing out so much that she just fights sleep constantly. Sleepyize has helped with her routine, but overall they’re just total opposites in the sleep department.

Thanks for sharing! Harper is 18 months and is also a sleep hater. She has major FOMO 😉 We’re currently in a major 18 month sleep regression and it’s killing me. I think I just need to make peace with the fact that she’s not a sleeper and hope and pray that the next one may be haha. I’ll give gentle baby another chance tonight and see what happens.

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{About Me}

I'm Diana, and my blog is about loss, grief, motherhood, trauma, faith, moments of incredible wonder, candid thoughts, and a little snark. You can find more details on our story here.
Sam and I have been married since I was 19. He was 20. He's an OIF, medically retired veteran of the Army and Marines. We have 5 children - Bella was born in 2009 after a rather bumpy pregnancy and her first year was mostly crazy reflux. Preston and Julian, my identical twins, were born at 20 weeks in 2012 and lived only a few hours. Kaden was born full term in 2013 seemingly perfect, and at 4 days old he was found to have cardiomyopathy due to ciHHV-6. He passed away at 3 weeks old. Charlotte was born in 2015, and was a complete surprise to us. Each of them have changed our lives completely.
Currently I'm in school to become a counselor who focuses on trauma and grief.
I love Jesus - even though sometimes I get really angry and upset at the way our life has gone. I hope through my faults, insecurities, snarkiness, selfish nature, and general mess - my love for Christ and His work in my life shines through in my story.
Thank you for reading and sharing. It's an honor to be able to write it as I live it.